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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28542591">The Offer</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Classical_Trash/pseuds/Classical_Trash'>Classical_Trash</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Color Spectrum [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, mentioned death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:02:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,245</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28542591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Classical_Trash/pseuds/Classical_Trash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tobirama comes back, a question and an offer in his pocket.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama &amp; Senju Tobirama</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Color Spectrum [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936138</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>90</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Offer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is apart of a series! Some of This won’t make sense if you haven’t read the first part!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It’s not a surprise that Tobirama comes back two days later.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ever since he gained the memories of his clone, he could not get the feeling of chakra so interwoven with hatred out of his head. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So he-</span>
  <em>
    <span>not a clone this time-</span>
  </em>
  <span>traverses through the forest. The further he gets the further the chakra thickens. Tobirama notes that the chakra affects the animals here. The edges of the forest have more chakra signatures that appear like stars in the sky to Tobirama, while the middle is nothing but a flood of orange chakra. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If Tobirama was a different man, he would believe that this malice, this unbearable pressure is intoxicating to a point. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But he isn’t a different man. He knows that nothing good could come from trying to control this surplus of chakra. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He keeps walking, steps light as he takes in the forest. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sees orange fur and slows his pace. Once he sees the foxes head, Tobirama sits down 15 feet away from the Kyuubi. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Back so soon?” Kyuubi’s voice grumbles, eyes still closed. “I’ll give it to you, most would leave the fire country if I tried to eat them.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tobirama chuckles, “Do you get a lot of people intruding on you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, which means my choice of living in the corner of the fire country was the right idea.” Kyuubi hums, “Unless you decide to be a little </span>
  <em>
    <span>pest </span>
  </em>
  <span>and bring your kind here.” He opens his eyes to see Tobirama shake his head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I understand one's need to be alone, I would never violate someone’s privacy like that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yet you still came here again.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tobirama tilts his head at the remark, lips pursing. “I’ll leave if you say so.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t say I’m opposed to you being here.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He has to smile at that, hearing the huff come out from Kyuubi. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How well can you sense chakra?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Better than you and your fellow humans.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t doubt that. I assume that a chakra beast would be more in tune with chakra than humans.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course we are, though I should have realized you were using the clone Jutsu with how low your chakra was.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s actually a Jutsu I created,” Tobirama starts, “It takes up more chakra, but one’s clone has the same physical presence as the user but divides the chakra. I created dozens of clones the day I met you and the one that you saw was my only remaining one.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A neat trick,” Kyuubi mutters, and Tobirama silently thanks the compliment. “Are you the real Tobirama, or are you another clone?” The Senju makes an amused noise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m the real me, I swear.” The albino sits down on the grass, right in front of the fox’s head but not too close. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do have an abnormal amount of chakra for a human,” Kyuubi sniffs, “How far can you sense?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right at the ends of the fire country. A little more if I stress my sensing too much.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most likely a shinobi,” Tobirama nods, “Shinobi’s all have a certain smell to their chakra, can you sense that?” He shakes his head and Kyuubi hums. “You all smell like iron in some way. Your iron smell is slightly diluted compared to most. Water affinity?” Tobirama once more nods and Kyuubi smiles. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tobirama can’t always handle how much he can sense, so adding smell to that chakra sensory? He could already feel the overload in his head and he wonders how the Kyuubi could deal with it all of these years. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He closes his eyes and sees, hears, and feels the tiny movements of every tree, every tiny animal in this forest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he closes his eyes, he can see chakra signatures as if they were the bright stars in the night. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And if everything in the forest were stars, Kyuubi was the dazzling moon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He focuses on it, watches the chakra glow and shine in the darkness, blinding the stars.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And he focuses, only staring at the wide moon when he feels the tides pushing at his body once more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Memories resurface in his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> The time he first stepped into an onsen because Hashirama pushed him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first time he was three and he had to help cook a stew with his mother and the air was humid, the water scalding to the touch and it made him hiss. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It reminds him of the time he was able to move water from the pond near the family house to Hashirama and the surprised look on his brother’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The look of deep thought in his father’s. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The chakra floods his senses, slushing at his body and it reminds him of the ocean. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was cold, too cold for Tobirama’s body as he sat in the saltwater, rain dropping down on him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>hard </span>
  </em>
  <span>to sense his father who was at the shore when Tobirama could only smell the salt, feel the rain pouring and the ocean crashing into his body. His eyes are closed and stinging. It crashes at him and he feels like he’s going to drown. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It reminds him of the warm water that slowly became discolored as he washed the bloodied body of Kawarama. Of Itama. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It reminds him of splashing, scolding, stinging, and discolored water. He drowns in the sensation; it overloads him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And it’s-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s too much </span>
  </em>
  <span>and Tobirama opens his eyes, red meeting red, a grin greeting the grim look on Tobirama’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sensitive boy,” the fox chuckles. “You look as if you’re in pain.” Tobirama glares.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kyuubi </span>
  <em>
    <span>knows </span>
  </em>
  <span>what his chakra does to people, with that smug look being Tobirama’s primary evidence. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But he looks at the heated glare. The viciousness in the fox’s eyes that looked at Tobirama like a mere ant made him weary.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve read stories,” Tobirama starts. “I’ve read that foxes and kitsunes love aburaage. Would that apply to you as well?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m a chakra beast, I don’t need to eat </span>
  <em>
    <span>your </span>
  </em>
  <span>food.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My Anija, he eats Imagawayaki whenever he thinks I am not looking because he enjoys the taste. He doesn’t need to eat it no matter how many times he tells me he does.” Tobirama huffs at the memories of Hashirama crying over the Imagawayaki that Tobirama has confiscated. He’s even told every food stand to not let their esteemed Hokage buy more than two of the sweet treats every week.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kyuubi shoots a pointed look. “You humans and your deals. Spit it out, what do you want from me, hm? My chakra?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No, I couldn’t handle such immense power. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“I seek knowledge, not pure power.” There’s an argument in Kyuubi, Tobirama can feel it, but he still continues. “I’ve been enamored with chakra my whole life, and you have been alive for centuries creating a name for yourself as the beast who gets rid of the evil in every country. You clearly sense things that I cannot.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kyuubi doesn’t say anything, and Tobirama accepts the silence.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“How good of a cook are you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Better than my brother.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kyuubi laughs, and Tobirama feels the ground rumble.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Go away then. Come back with food and maybe I’ll help you.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Tobirama bows, looking back at the Fox one more time before leaving.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for the opportunity.”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t get to do much often,” Kyuubi admits. “Don’t make me regret it.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tobirama leaves when warm chakra is pushed at his way, a smile on his face and a plan forming in his head.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have a Madatobi fic that I’ve been ignoring, so sorry if you are waiting on that.... but I do hope you enjoyed this! Love you all &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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